Christianity As Mystical Fact

THE ACCOUNTS of the Life of Jesus which can be submitted to
historical examination are contained in the Gospels. All that does not
come from this source might, in the opinion of one of those who are
considered the greatest historical authorities on the subject, Harnack,
(see Note 62a)
be easily written on a quarto page. But what kind of
documents are these Gospels? The fourth, that of John, differs so much
from the others that those who believe themselves obliged to follow
the path of historical research in order to study the subject come to
the conclusion: If John possesses the genuine tradition about the
life of Jesus, that of the first three Evangelists (the Synoptists) is
untenable; if the Synoptists are right, the fourth Gospel must be
rejected as a historical source. (Otto Schmidel, Die Hauptprobleme
der Leben Jesu-Forschung, Principal Problems of Research into the Life
of Jesus, p. 15.) This is a statement made from the standpoint of the
historical investigator. In the present work, where we are dealing
with the mystical content of the Gospels, such a point of view is
neither to be accepted nor rejected. But attention must certainly be
drawn to such an opinion as the following: Measured by the standard
of consistency, inspiration, and completeness, these writings leave
very much to be desired; even when measured by the ordinary human
standard they suffer from many imperfections. This is the opinion of
a Christian theologian (Harnack in Wesen des Christentums, The Nature
of Christianity). If one agrees that the Gospels have a mystical
origin one finds that apparent contradictions can be explained without
difficulty, and one also discovers harmony between the fourth Gospel
and the other three. None of these writings are meant to be mere
historical tradition in the ordinary sense of the word. They do not
profess to give a historical biography
(see Note in Chapter 6).
What they intended to give was already foreshadowed in the traditions
of the Mysteries, as the typical life of the Son of God. It was these
traditions which were drawn upon, not history. Now it was only natural
that these traditions should not be in literal agreement in every
Mystery center. Nevertheless the agreement was so close that the
Buddhists narrated the life of their divine man in almost the same way
as the Evangelists narrated the life of Christ. But naturally there
were differences. We need only assume that the four Evangelists drew
from four different Mystery traditions. It is evidence of the towering
personality of Jesus that in four writers belonging to different
traditions, he awakened the belief that he so perfectly corresponded
with their type of an initiate that they were able to describe him as
one who lived the typical life marked out in their Mysteries. Each of
them described his life according to his own Mystery traditions. And
if the narratives of the first three Evangelists (the Synoptists)
resemble each other, it proves nothing more than that they drew upon
similar Mystery traditions. The fourth Evangelist saturated his Gospel
with ideas in many respects reminiscent of the religious philosopher Philo
(see Note in Chapter 4).
This simply proves that he was rooted in the same
mystical tradition as was Philo.  In the Gospels one finds various
elements. First, facts are related which appear to lay claim to being
historical. Second, parables exist in which the narrative form is used
only to portray a deeper truth. And third, teachings meant to be taken
as the content of the Christian conception of life, are included. In
John's Gospel no actual parable is present. The source from which he
drew was a mystical school which believed parables to be unnecessary.
 The role of professedly historical facts and parables in the first
three Gospels is clearly shown in the account of the cursing of the
fig tree. In Mark 11:1114 we read: And Jesus entered into Jerusalem,
and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all
things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with
the twelve. And on the morrow when they were come from Bethany, he was
hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves he came, if haply
he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it he found
nothing but leaves; for the time of the figs was not yet. And Jesus
answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for
ever. In the corresponding passage in Luke's Gospel he relates a
parable (Luke 13:6, 7): He spake also this parable; A certain man had
a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came and sought fruit
thereon and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard,
Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and
find none; cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? This parable
symbolizes the worthlessness of the old teaching, represented by the
barren fig tree. What is meant metaphorically, Mark relates as an
apparently historical fact. Therefore we may assume that, in general,
facts related in the Gospels are not to be taken as only historical,
or as if they were to hold good only in the world of the senses, but
as mystical facts, as experiences recognizable only by spiritual
vision, and which stem from various mystical traditions. If we admit
this, the difference between the Gospel of John and the Synoptists
ceases to exist. For mystical interpretation, historical research
should not be taken into account. Even if one or the other Gospel were
written a few decades earlier or later, to the mystic all of them are
of equal historical worth, John's Gospel as well as the others.

The miracles also do not present the least difficulty when
interpreted mystically. They are supposed to break through the laws of
nature. They do this only when they are considered as occurrences
which are supposed to have taken place in the physical, transitory
sphere in such a way that ordinary sense-perception could have seen
through them without difficulty. But if they are experiences which can
be seen through only at a higher level, the spiritual level of
existence, then it is a matter of course that they cannot be grasped
by the laws of physical nature.

Thus it is first of all necessary to read the Gospels in the right
way: then we shall know in what manner they speak of the Founder of
Christianity. Their intention is to report in the style in which
communications were made through the Mysteries. They narrate in the
way a mystic would speak of an initiate. However, they give the
initiation as the unique characteristic of one unique Being. And they
make the salvation of humanity depend on the fact that men cleave to
this uniquely initiated Being. What had come to the initiates was the
Kingdom of God. This unique Being has brought the Kingdom to all who
will cleave to him. What was formerly the personal concern of each
individual has become the common concern of all those willing to
acknowledge Jesus as their Lord.

We can understand how this came about if we admit that the wisdom of
the Mysteries was embedded in the religion of the Israelite people.
Christianity arose out of Judaism. We need not be surprised therefore
to find engrafted on Judaism together with Christianity, those
Mystery-conceptions which we have seen to be the common property of
Greek and Egyptian spiritual life. If we examine folk religions we
find various ideas about the spiritual. If we trace back to the deeper
wisdom of the priests, which in each case proves to be the spiritual
nucleus of the differing folk religions, we find agreement everywhere.
Plato is aware that he agrees with the priest-sages of Egypt as he
sets forth the main content of Greek wisdom in his philosophical
conception of the world. It is said that Pythagoras traveled to Egypt
and India and was instructed by the sages in those countries. Thinkers
who lived in the earlier days of Christianity found so much agreement
between the philosophical teachings of Plato and the deeper meaning of
Moses' writings that they called Plato the Moses of the Greek tongue.
(see Note 63)

Thus Mystery wisdom existed everywhere. In Judaism it acquired the
form it had to assume if it was to become a world religion.  Judaism
awaited the Messiah. It is not surprising that when the personality of
a unique initiate appeared, the Jews could only conceive of him as
being the Messiah. Indeed, this circumstance sheds light on the fact
that what had been an individual concern in the Mysteries became the
concern of a whole people. From the beginning the Jewish religion had
been a religion of the people. The Jewish people regarded itself as
one organism. Its Jao was the God of the whole people. If the Son of
this God were to be born he must be the Redeemer of the whole people.
The individual mystic was not permitted to be saved by himself; the
whole people must share in the redemption. Thus it is rooted in the
fundamental ideas of the Jewish religion that One is to die for all.
(see Note 64)
 And it is also certain that there were Mysteries in Judaism which
could be brought into the religion of the people, out of the dimness
of a secret cult. A fully developed mysticism existed side by side
with the priestly wisdom connected with the outer formulas of the
Pharisees. This secret Mystery wisdom is described in the same way
among the Jews as it is elsewhere. One day when an initiate was
speaking of it, his hearers sensed the secret meaning of his words and
said, Old man, what hast thou done? O that thou hadst kept silence!
Thou thinkest to navigate the boundless ocean without sail or mast.
This what thou art attempting. Wilt thou fly upwards? Thou canst not.
Wilt thou descend into the depths? An infinite abyss is yawning before
thee.  The Kabbalists, from whom the above is taken, also speak of four
rabbis. These four rabbis sought the secret path to the divine. The
first died, the second lost his reason, the third caused tremendous
desolation, and on!y the fourth, Rabbi Akiba, entered and returned in peace.
(see Note 65)

Thus we see that also in Judaism there was a soil in which an initiate
of a unique kind could develop. He needed only say to himself: I will
not let salvation be limited to a few chosen people. I will let all
people participate in this salvation. He had to carry out into the
world at large what the elect had experienced in the temples of the
Mysteries. He had to be willing to take it upon himself, through his
personality, in spirit, to be to his community what the cult of the
Mysteries hitherto had been to those who took part in it. Indeed he
could not at once give the experiences of the Mysteries to the whole
community. Neither would he have wished to do so. But he wished to
give to all the certainty of what in the Mysteries was perceived to be
truth. He wished to cause the life which flowed in the Mysteries to
flow through the further historical evolution of humanity. Thus he
would raise mankind to a higher stage of existence. Blessed are they
that have not seen, and yet believe. He wished to plant unshakably in
human hearts, in the form of faith, the certainty that the divine
really exists. A man who stands outside initiation and has this faith
certainly will go further than one who is without it. It must have
weighed on the heart of Jesus like a nightmare that among those
standing outside there may have been many unable to find the way. He
wished to lessen the gulf between those to be initiated and the
people. Christianity was to be a means by which everyone could find
the way. If anyone is not yet ready, at least he is not cut off from
the possibility of sharing, to a certain degree unconsciously, in the
stream flowing through the Mysteries. The Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost. Even those who cannot yet
participate in initiation may enjoy some of the fruits of the
Mysteries. Henceforth the Kingdom of God is not dependent on external
observances: Neither shall they say Lo here! or, lo there! for,
behold, the kingdom of God is within you. With Jesus the point in
question was not so much how far this or that person advanced in the
kingdom of the spirit, as that all should be convinced that such a
spiritual kingdom exists. In this rejoice not, that the spirits are
subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written
in heaven. That is, have faith in the divine; the time will come when
you will find it.